Phil Gerus

SCENES

Public Release

PR12

Info:

Public Releases Hits The Lab For Some Aural Alchemy And To Turn Out Its First Release Of 2017. A Four-tracker From Moscow’s Phil Gerus, Scenes—or, In The Producer’s Native Russian, &#1089,&#1094,&#1077,&#1085,&#1099,—manages To Have A Makeup That’s Both Peculiar And Magnetic. The Title’s A Fitting One, Every Track Feels Like A Vignette In A Collection Of Short Stories. Separately, They’re Self-contained, But A Rich Narrative Arch Is Added When They’re Sewn Together. If There Is A Theme Here, It’s Of Viewing The Future Through The Dusty Lens Of The Past, And Each Of The Songs Explores This In Its Own Fashion. The Kick-off, “ohashi Sky Garden,” Starts As A Hyped-up Italo Space Epic, Pumped Full Of Swirling Synth Licks And Sharp, Tight Drums, But It Mutates Into Something Completely Its Own When Vocal Samples (90s R&b?) And Warm Keys (prog Rock Rhodes?) Enter. After The Original’s Brisk Five Minutes, The Legendary Richard Sen—graffiti Guy, Breaks Guy, House Guy, Disco Guy, Half-of-padded-cell Guy—steps In To Give It A Trance-y Tinge While Doubling Its Runtime And Adding A Dancefloor-destroying Hi-nrg Coloration. The B Begins With “naha Swim,” A Crunchy Funk Foot-stomper That Might As Well Be An Unreleased Idjut Boys Or Ray Mang Ditty Dug Up From The Noid Catacombs. Fiery And Furious, Yet Utterly Cheeky. Serving As A Sort Of Coda To “naha” Is “kiss Of A Kind,” A Gerus Take On 80s Adult Contemporary, Replete With Sleazy Sax And Sensual Pads. A Gentle Nightcap To A Zigzagging, Antic 12-inch